How to download firmware via USB to RP Pico or how to download firmware via uf2 file

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How to download firmware via USB to RP Pico or how to download firmware via uf2 file.

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Hello @Temurumaru ,

Welcome to the Embeetle forum.

To download firmware to a Raspberry Pi Pico (RP2040), you need to put it into Mass Storage mode. This is done with the following procedure:

  • Press&hold the BOOTSEL button on the Pico
  • While holding BOOTSEL, plug the USB cable from the Pico into your computer
  • The Pico should appear as a Mass Storage Device in your file explorer
  • To upload your .uf2 file, simply copy&paste it into the Pico’s directory
  • When you successfully copy&pasted the .uf2 file, the Pico will be automatically ejected from the USB port and the firmware transferred successfully.

I hope I understood your question correctly. If not, please let me know if we can help you further.
For more details on how to flash firmware to a Raspberry Pi Pico using Embeetle, please check our website here: Embeetle IDE

Regards,
Matic

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I just wanted to say that there is no way I can compile a project to uf2 file on Embeetle IDE

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Currently we compile to .bin and .elf files only, we do not do any extra conversions. The files are located in your Pico project’s build directory after you have done a successful build:
image
.uf2 files are created from .elf files using the elf2uf2 tool.
To get a .uf2 file you would need to install the official Raspberry Pi Pico SDK to get their elf2uf2 tool to convert the .elf file into a .uf2 file, or compile the tool yourself with the code from here:

It is trivial to add the conversion to the build procedure (the elf2uf2 tool needs to be on your path):

  • Open the project’s config/makefile file
  • Go to line 565 and insert <\tab>elf2uf2 $(ELF_FILE) application.uf2, it should look like this:
    image
  • The press the Build button, wait for it to build and voila, there is the .uf2 file:
    image

I highly recommend you use Linux for this, as the elf2uf2 tool was made for use on an actual Raspberry Pi. I cannot guarantee it will work on Windows.

Hope this helps. If you need any other help, please let me know.

P.S.:
I just tried the elf2uf2 tool from the github link above and it doesn’t seem to work on Windows! It creates a .uf2 file, but the file is very small in size and doesn’t work on the Pico! Probably the elf2uf2 tool from the official Raspberry Pi SDK work, but I haven’t tried it yet, as the SDK is Linux only I think, which would mean having to use Windows-Subsystem-for-Linux (WSL).
This is irrelevant, as I was notified of a different elf2uf2 version by Lars Pötter.

P.P.S.:
I’m now in going to try to get the elf2uf2 to compile on Windows with the help of the Github repo’s owner, Lars Pötter (JustAnother1).

Regards
Matic

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Thank you very much! It worked for me. I wish there were such kind and active people on all forums! :slight_smile:

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Hi @Temurumaru

Lars Pötter has updated the elf2uf2 tool and now you can even download a precompiled version for Windows here: Releases · JustAnother1/elf2uf2 · GitHub
Thank you @Lars :tada:

For help with the tool usage use:

elf2uf2 --help

Example of converting a .elf file for the RP2040:

elf2uf2 -f 0xe48bff56 -p 256 -i application.elf

Thank you @Temurumaru also for the feedback and testing đź‘Ť
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Thank you for that :slight_smile:

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